I tore it apart this morning and went through the parts diagram and the assembly instructions one more time. The piston assembly was correct. All the parts lined up in order like the diagram on the gas cylinder showed. So I was stumped.

Went back again and read word for word assembly instructions... still stumped.

Looked at the parts diagram again... still stumped.

Read assembly instructions one more time... still stumped.

Went through the disasemmbly and reassembly instructions... stil stumped.

Went back and looked only at the diagrams and that's when I noticed something. On Picture 8 of the instruction manual it shows the gas cylinder and gas cylander spring with the words "do not remove". I looked at the cylinder and the spring was there but after comparing what I had with the parts diagram I noticed it was not positioned in the right place - over the holes.

Then it dawned on me that this was the "compensation" spring that lets excess gas out when using heavy loads. Well without the spring, ALL the gas was exiting these two holes thus preventing the gas from driving the piston to cycle the action.

It also explains why after only two shells the barrel and forend were dirty. Something we overlooked initially but shouldn't have.

EUREKA!!! I adjusted the spring to cover the holes, loaded up the truck and went out to the hill to try it out. Fired off one shell and the action cycled and locked back. Loaded one in the chamber and one in the tube. Fired it and it cylced the action and loaded the next shell which I then fired. Shot off a box of 25 without a single hitch.

CRIPES!!! That was frustrating but luckily it was an easy fix. It's now working 100%.

Did I do any damage to the gun in firing it without the gas cylinder spring in the right position?

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